How Can Targeted Killings Be Justified?

Introduction

Ali Ali/European PressphotoAhmed Jabari, the top military commander of Hamas, was killed on Wednesday in Gaza by an Israeli airstrike on his car.

On Wednesday, Israel began its broadest attack against Gaza in years with a pinpoint airstrike that killed the military leader of Hamas. In Pakistan and Yemen, the United States has used drones to kill members of Al Qaeda.

The legality and morality of such actions, and whether they constitute government-sponsored murder, have long been questioned. Are targeted killings by governments ever appropriate?